Take a Deep Breath
by Kitten Crusader
Summary: Seven down, one to go. Rock prepares to fight Wily's last Robot Master, Crash Man. One-shot.


_Glaucia here. First off, Mega Man belongs to Capcom. I don't own any of these guys._

_A quick thing about Rock's name: I see Mega Man as his fighting title and Rock as his casual name. Just to avoid confusion._

_Okay, I'll stop talking._

* * *

><p>Rock gathered himself with a breath, air flooding his cooling systems and soothing his fluttering power core. Last one. He had gotten through all of the others. Just one more and it was onto Doctor Wily. His armor flashed and changed to a dark gold palette, his buster preparing a Metal Blade.<p>

The shutter opened and Rock stepped into the next room. It was large, but the walls were only half-built. There was no ceiling to speak of, showing the clear night sky, and a cool draft swept through the twisted yellow pipes.

At the far side, a robot in orange armor sat crossed legged. He quietly observed the sky.

"Hey!" Rock called with a wave.

The robot flinched and stood abruptly. He reached out to a pipe to steady himself - Rock noticed that he had large industrial drills instead of hands.

"Mega Man!" he exclaimed. "You're here..."

"Yep," Rock smiled. Maybe he could get through this without a fight. "My friends call me Rock. What's your name?"

"Um," the robot hesitated and looked off to the side. He lowered his head slightly, visor covering his eyes, and shifted to a fighting stance. "I am the Destroyer!" he shouted.

Rock nodded. "Destroyer? Okay."

"No, sorry!" the robot backtracked immediately, holding his head with his drills. "Dr. Wily said I should say that, my name's Crash Man." His expression became wary. "He said I need to defeat you. But you seem..." Crash frowned and turned away to pace.

"We don't have to fight," Rock insisted. "I don't want to battle you."

Crash faced him again. "It's my primary objective, although I might –" He froze.

"What's wrong?"

"Your buster."

Rock looked down. A circular blade waited patiently to be fired, nestled half way in the cannon. "Okay?" he questioned uncertainly.

"That's Metal's. You hurt my brothers..." Crash shook his head vigorously. "You're the reason..." He bared his teeth, his drills quivering with rage.

Oh, dear. Rock didn't like where this was going. It was like he flicked a switch - all of the previous awkwardness had been replaced with barely-contained anger.

"I have to kill you!"

And suddenly, Crash wasn't on the ground anymore.

Rock yelped as a drill impaled his boot. It was still rotating, digging deeper - he wrenched it out by the rounded end and flung it across the room, stumbling away as it detonated.

Crash slammed down in front of Rock. He had lapsed into perfect focus, and a new drill had already replaced the old one in his arm. Crash lunged forwards, weapons outstretched.

"I said we didn't have to fight!" Rock snapped, nevertheless firing off three blades.

Crash easily knocked them aside and plunged his drill through Rock's abdomen. Rock shrieked, but switched to his newest weapon - the Air Shooter. He shoved it against Crash's chest and fired. The resulting tornado flung his assailant off, yanking the weapon from his stomach.

"Listen!" Rock shouted. "I don't fully understand Dr. Wily, but he's insane! It's not right for him to give you orders like these!"

"Don't talk about him like that, Mega Man!" Crash retorted with a flash of frustration. He rolled back to his feet and leapt for Rock once more, shooting both Crash Bombs in rapid succession. The fan in Rock's blue buster released another twister, this one sweeping up the bombs and slamming them back in their owner.

Rock heard the explosions and a strangled cry before he clutched the wound in his stomach and started running. He wanted these Robot Masters incapacitated, not shattered beyond repair. He reached the edge and peered over the side.

Crash had managed to thrust his left drill through a pipe, but he couldn't find further purchase on the sleek metal without fingers. Rock extended a hand. "Please, grab on," he beseeched. "We can be friends."

Crash was torn between fulfilling his objective and wanting to believe the blue robot. He started to reach up before stopping. Instead, a small disc ejected from a slot on his free arm. With a quick motion, he flicked the disc up over the ledge.

"You'll need that," he explained hastily. All of the malice in his eyes had evaporated. "I'll... I'll see you around, Rock."

"_No, Crash! Reach up!"_

And his drill slipped.

Rock knelt at the edge for a few shell-shocked minutes. Something faint had bubbled up in him - he recognized it as hate. But not for the robot below. No, this was for the root of everything, the one that gave the orders, the one who couldn't seem to manage compassion for anything of blood or steel. Rock was angry at Dr. Wily.

Rock delicately inserted the disc into his buster and downloaded the new weapon data. With a final breath of the chilly air, he teleported out.


End file.
